WND IN THE NEWS

Political coverage causes readership surge

Internet ratings service reports newssite traffic up 54%

WND has a history of major traffic increases in and around political seasons – and the start of 2007, with presidential candidates throwing hats into the ring, was no exception.

According to Internet audience ratings service comScore Media Metrix, WND’s traffic growth was No. 1 among all political news sources and No. 2 among all sites related to politics in any way. Only Capitol Advantage, whose mission is to use technology to broaden participation and debate across the political spectrum, had higher growth.

WND’s traffic increased 54 percent in January, according to the report, while Capitol Advantage increased readership by 74 percent. Moveon.org, the pro-Democrat activist site founded by George Soros, was third with 23 percent growth, according to comScore Media Metrix. The report said WND attracted more visitors in the month than the websites of any of the presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.

Much like television ratings services, the company relies on measuring the activity of a select number of Internet users – numbering, in this case, in the hundreds of thousands.

In July, the same ratings service reported WND’s traffic increases led an overall trend among newssites known for political coverage in the midterm election year.

In its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for July, comScore Media Metrix reported a 22 percent increase in traffic to WorldNetDaily – leading the way among all its competitors.

Among smaller content sites, Voice of America News experienced a 50 percent hike in July and National Review’s traffic increased 11 percent.

“The Internet is becoming an important political forum in this country, especially as video and blogging become more prevalent,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “Politicians recognize the inherent ability of the Internet to connect people and ideas, and it will be interesting to observe activity at political sites as the November elections approach.”

WND has a history of significant traffic increases in election cycles. It was the No. 1 site for political coverage throughout the 2004 presidential election year, according to Alexa.com, the rankings agency affiliated with Amazon.com.

During WND’s 10 years on the Internet, it has also been honored as “the most popular website in the world” by the now-defunct European-based Global 100 ranking service, a website that allowed users to rank their favorite destinations on the Net, music groups, TV shows, movies, etc. In fact, WND remained No. 1 for more than 100 weeks in a row – an indication it has “the most loyal and passionate readers,” said Farah.

WND has also been consistently ranked by several major Internet ratings agencies as the “stickiest” newssite on the Internet – meaning readers average more time on it than any other.

By WND’s own traffic counts, the site attracts about 6 million “unique visitors” (meaning different people) every month. It attracts between 50 million and 60 million pageviews per month.

WND was also the first content site on the Internet to begin a book-publishing imprint, WND Books, that has revolutionized the publishing industry in many ways. WND was the first Internet content site to launch a daily, nationally syndicated radio show, “Farah Live,” based on that content. And WND was the first content site on the Net to launch columnists into weekly syndication, including David Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and Joseph Farah.